MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 15 (TodayViralUSA) — Google said Wednesday it is updating AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search so users see more — and more prominent — links back to websites, a fresh attempt to ease publisher concerns that AI answers keep people from clicking through to the open web.
In a company blog post, Google said Preferred Sources usage has grown more than sevenfold since the start of the year and that it is expanding tools that push people from AI summaries into original pages, news reports and creator profiles.
Inline links higher in answers
Inline links — words or phrases inside an AI response that open a source page — will appear more often and “higher up in responses more frequently,” Google said, so key sources are clickable earlier in an answer.
The company is also testing a dedicated section at the top of some AI responses that highlights one or two official or task-specific pages, with short context on why each link is useful — for example, a carrier refund page or another destination that is effectively the only place to finish a task.
News carousels and creator profiles
Timely-article carousels that highlight Preferred Sources are rolling out to more countries and languages. Related-article links at the end of responses are getting a more visual, thumbnail-heavy design. Google also said it has begun testing clickable creator and publisher names on video results that open Search profiles in AI Mode.
Google said more than 400 publications worldwide are now in its News AI licensing pilot, which pays partners for enhanced content used in AI features. Publishers have long argued that AI summaries reduce referral traffic; Google frames the latest changes as making it easier to “dive deeper” into the web from Search.
Nick Fox, a Google Search executive, outlined the package on social media the same day, listing more inline links, the top-of-answer task links, global news carousels, a richer “Dive Deeper” section and clickable video creator names.
Sources & Credits
- Google The Keyword: AI Mode and AI Overviews updates to explore the web
- The Verge: Google is making inline links more prominent in AI responses
- Search Engine Roundtable: Google Updates Links In AI Mode & AI Overviews Again
Image: Asoundd, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Googleplex, Mountain View).
Join the conversation